Thursday, 10 September 2009

Socialised Medicine…

Thousands of women are being denied better osteoporosis drugs because of unnecessarily restrictive Government guidelines, a doctor said last night.

All to save money.

Yet if you are a convicted murderer who’s upset about a birthmark, money’s no object…

Professor David Reid, an expert on brittle bones, said the rules are so stringent that GPs are often prevented from giving alternative treatments to those suffering side-effects from their pills.

A once-a-year jab that could save thousands from the misery of broken bones is also not going to be assessed for use on the NHS in England and Wales for at least three years, despite being available in Scotland

Again, due to cost. Yes, it’s more expensive in the short term, but in the long term could well save money, as well as time for both patients and staff.

But bean counters rarely look at the long term when they are working on yearly budget forecasts.

It means that sufferers are being denied drugs that could have a major impact on their health and their quality of life. The news will reignite the debate about the evaluation system used by drugs rationing body the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence.

At least someone’s calling it what it really is…

Up to a quarter of patients taking the first-choice drug, the £50-a-year alendronic acid, will be troubled by indigestion, with some experiencing crippling stomach pain.

But under guidelines, sufferers may have to wait up to five years for their condition to deteriorate before being put on more expensive treatments with fewer side-effects.

The fact that those fewer side effects therefore means fewer symptoms to treat seems to have escaped the Simple Shopper…

Mr Reid said: 'The guidelines indicate that a lady can have alendronic acid at a certain level of risk.

'If that person doesn't tolerate the drug and goes back to their GP, the GP might have to say, "Your risk isn't high enough to have the next drug" - and frankly, that is just bad medical practice. It defies logic.'

Not to mention basic humanity…

But it seems they don’t select for ‘basic humanity’ when finding NICE workers:

A spokesman for NICE said the guidelines 'provide postmenopausal women with consistent access to the most cost effective treatments'.

Over at 'CiF', Jane Hamsher has a post on Obama and the 'public option' which...well, let's just say that it's impossible not to read it in the voice of a pudgy, tear-streaked two year old screaming 'Daddy promised me a pony and I want it RIGHT NOW!!!.

So? Can any one tell me why ANY one outside of the backwater minor country sandwiched between Canada and Mexico, should give a twopenny FUCK what Osama sais?

Von Spreuth: It's a fact that public spending per head is quite a bit higher in Scotland than it is in England. XX

It is still THEIR choice WHAT it is spent on. Just because the wee Englanders would rather fund some bin lid bashing group of dread locked "musicians" just because they are a "minority" than on health, is ENTIRELY Englands fault.